1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ejector mechanism in a gun, and more particularly, to a mechanism for suspending when necessary an operation of an ejector mechanism so that an empty cartridge case will not pop out, and that the cartridge case can be easily recovered.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a cartridge case of a breech-type gun is adapted to automatically pop out from a chamber when the breech is opened to load another bullet after the gun is fired. However, when reused, it is sometimes difficult to recover the cartridge case popped out. Also, the cartridge case may get dirty and deformed when it pops out and then drops. Also, pollution will be caused if the empty cartridge case is left somewhere after use. Thus, there has developed a demand that the cartridge case remain in a chamber and be recovered without operating the ejector mechanism when necessary.
In view of the foregoing problems, the applicant has proposed a switching mechanism of an ejector in Japanese Patent No. 525883 (U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,245), which is constructed as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7.
First, an ejector mechanism will be described with reference to FIG. 6. When a breech is opened to load a ammunition in a chamber, a hammer 1 is pivoted clockwise so as to allow a projection 1a projecting from the hammer 1 to shift along a slope 2b of a head 2a of a trip rod 2 which is formed of an elongated round bar and to allow the trip rod 2 to shift to the left side of the drawing. In accordance with this shift to the left side, the trip rod 2 is pivoted clockwise together with a receiver as the breech is opened so that the left end of the trip rod 2 abuts against a recess on the right side of the ejector sear 3, thereby rotating the ejector sear 3 counterclockwise. The left end surface of the ejector sear 5 abuts against the right end surface of an ejector hammer 4, thus preventing the ejector hammer 4 from being pivoted clockwise. However, the ejector sear 3 is disengaged from the ejector hammer 4 when the ejector sear 3 is, as mentioned above, pivoted counterclockwise so that the ejector hammer 4 is pivoted clockwise by a spring. When the ejector hammer 4 is pivoted, the ejector 5 is shifted diagonally to the upper right, thus popping out the cartridge case 6 from the chamber.
A description of a switching mechanism will be given now. A taper pin 7 is embedded in the vicinity of the right end of the trip rod 2 such that it intersects with the trip rod 2. The taper pin 7 is slidable longitudinally (the vertical direction in the drawing), and as shown in FIG. 7, it is integrally coupled with a handle 8 projecting from the side of the gun, thereby allowing the taper pin 7 to be slid from the outside of the gun. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the taper pin 7 slides perpendicular to the plane of the drawing and the head 2a of the trip rod 2 shifts upwards and downwards as indicated by the arrow in FIG. 7. In FIG. 7, the head 2a is shifted upwards in the drawing to be positioned above the projection 1a by operating the handle 8, so that when the breech is opened, the trip rod 2, being not in contact with the projection 1a, does not move longitudinally. Therefore, the ejector mechanism is not operated and the cartridge case remains in the chamber. When the handle 8 is operated to slide the taper pin 7 and to move the head 2a downwards in FIG. 7 into contact with the projection 1a, the ejector mechanism is operated as stated above, and the cartridge case pops out from the chamber.
However, in the foregoing switching mechanism, the handle 8 protrudes considerably from the side of the gun, and thus it becomes an obstacle during operation of the gun.
Also, if the taper pin 7 is made easily slidable, in may be easily shifted due to a shock of firing or the like, so that it has to be set firm to some degree. Nevertheless, this makes sliding of the taper pin 7 by the handle 8 difficult, in particular, when the handle becomes slippery due to perspiration from fingers, rain, and the like during a shooting game, etc. In order to solve this problem, as illustrated in the drawing, an engaging device 9 which is urged by a spring is provided orthogonal to the taper pin 7 so that the engaging device is inserted into a recess formed on the taper pin 7 to hold the taper pin in position. However, such a structure is not always satisfactory. Furthermore, machining of the taper pin 7 and the engaging device 9 as well as machining for their installation in the receiver portion of a gun are complicated, which inevitably makes the assembling work difficult.